The present invention relates generally to a jukebox system, and more particularly to such a system including one or more computer jukeboxes that can be managed from a remote location.
Heretofore, an assortment of musical recordings found in a jukebox consists of a plurality of records, each record containing a specific recording. Traditionally, these records are grooved phonograph records.
After a patron makes a selection, the selected phonograph record is mechanically removed from a storage rack within the jukebox, and the phonograph record is placed upon rotating platform. A stylus which is connected to a speaker system is then placed upon the rotating phonograph record, resulting in the phonograph record being played by the jukebox. For each selection, a separate phonograph record must be removed from the storage rack in order to be played by the jukebox.
Conventional jukeboxes have also implemented compact disks as means for creating an assortment of musical songs. Compact disks provide the improved sound quality made possible by digital recordings. The same technique, however, is used to play compact disks. A separate compact disk corresponding to each selection must be removed from a storage rack in order for the jukebox to play the selection.
Updating conventional jukeboxes is a costly and time consuming task. Routemen must periodically travel to each jukebox location and replace the existing recordings of each jukebox with up-to-date records. The existing recordings are no longer used by the jukebox once removed, thus making the conventional method wasteful.
Routemen must also travel to each jukebox location to keep a tally of the number of times each musical recording is selected in order to determine royalty fees. It is known to provide a jukebox with a counter that keeps track of the number of times each musical recording is selected, but routemen must still travel to each jukebox location to obtain this information. Such a process requires an excessive number of people to visit jukebox location periodically and visually read the information off the counter within each jukebox. Since the number of jukeboxes in operation is quite large, the employment of routemen to obtain such data involves a considerable expense. Furthermore, the ever changing nature of the recording industry requires that such data be gathered frequently in order to keep abreast of a continually changing market.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for managing a plurality of computer jukeboxes which is capable of eliminating the necessity for routemen to change records in the jukeboxes. The computer jukeboxes store recordings in memory, thus enabling routemen to simply load new recordings into the memory of each computer jukebox.
Another object of the present invention is to eliminate a necessity for routemen by enabling new recordings and selection menus to be downloaded to each computer jukebox via a transmission link. In that regard, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus which eliminates the material waste usually associated with updating jukeboxes. Instead of throwing away old recordings and replacing them with new ones, as is the conventional procedure, the present invention eliminates this waste by enabling new recordings to simply be downloaded into the memory of each computer jukebox. The old recordings are simply erased, if necessary.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus which is capable of remotely obtaining jukebox usage data, thus eliminating a necessity for routemen to do this task. The present invention utilizes a computer jukebox, which as part of its software programming, stores the number of times each musical recording is played and the number of credits that have been awarded. This data is uploaded to a central control device via a transmission link.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus utilizing modem computer technology to digitally store and play musical records. The jukebox of the present invention is basically a computer having a sophisticated audio production capability, the computer storing digitized song data in a computer memory. Because conventional jukeboxes maintain compact discs or records in the jukebox, theft of the compact disc/records has been a problem, this problem being eliminated by the present invention""s utilization of a computer memory to store the digitized song data.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus capable of being used with the remote management of jukeboxes via public telephone lines without interfering with establishments"" use of their own phone lines.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following description of certain preferred embodiments thereof taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.